Water is a right!Solidarity Water Convoy to the Jordan Valley – Saturday, August 6, 2016Organized by the Water Coalition United in upholding the Palestinians’ fundamental right for water

POB 1335, Kfar Saba 44113, Israel, ph. +972-50-5733276

Join a solidarity action: On Saturday, August 6, 2016, Israeli activists will hold a water convoy. We will deliver a symbolic water tanker to a Bedouin community of the Rashidiya and Abu Karinat Tribes near the village of Fasayil in the Jordan Valley – a community to which the Isralei authorities deny water, electricity and other basic amenities.

Further activities on the spot will include the construction of a playground, initiated by Combatants for Peace, and a joint dinner of Israelis and Palestinians.

The event will begin at 16:30

We call:

Link the Palestinian residents of the Jordan Valley to the water network!

Restore the stolen water to the Palestinian people! Give back the Source of Life!!

The Rashidiya and Abu Karinat living in the Jordan Valley had been expelled in 1948 from their original homes in the Negev and the Ein Gedi region (south Dead sea shore). They number about 130 persons, and are under the threat of being expelled again – as are thousands of Bedouins living around the highway from the Israeli city-settlement of Ma`ale Adumim to the Jordan Valley.

General background on the Jordan ValleyThe Jordan Valley covers an area of 1.6 million hectares, 29% of the West Bank, Its Palestinian population is approximately 70,000, the number of settlers is around.10,000.

Most of the Valley was appropriated for the purposes of occupation: 88% of the area is defined as Area C, 53.4% are defined as state lands, 45.7% are defined as firing zones, 12% are settlements, 20% are nature reserves. Palestinians have the right to enter and stay in more than remain on no more than 15% of the territory.

Given that the Jordan Valley constitutes a significant land reserve for the demographic and economic development of the Palestinian society, the annexation and dispossession carried out in the Valley are in effect choking all Palestinians – not just those living in the Valley.

The unequal water distribution policy enshrined in the the Oslo Accords (80% to Israel and only 20% to the Palestinians), in addition to the massive demolition of houses, confiscation of vehicles and agricultural equipment, prohibition of entry into “Fire Zones” and the reduction of grazing land - all of these serve as an instrument of ethnic cleansing and indicate annexation plans.

An eye-opening statistic: A Palestinian in the Jordan Valley gets – for his or her own needs as well as for the cattle – no more than eight (8) liters of water. An Israeli settler in the same area gets, for domestic and agricultural purposes, three thousand (3000) liters per day